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Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Today's Technology

I love gadgets, I love technology and I am always using it! But as a parent there comes a time when we must take a look at what our children will be exposed to soon. With Miss P turning 4 soon she is already on the iPad- which I don't mind as its monitored and I am the one that puts educational content on there- but soon she will be exposed to the Internet which quite frankly FREAKS ME OUT!

Just last night Mr D was telling me how he was looking on the Internet at metal tools for work (he is a roofer) and in the top search listings came a site which really disturbed him. It was a site about how to murder people and get away with it! Can you believe that, top listing on Google, after typing in metal tools this comes up! Surely Google have some control over what they list and I small for making profits but where are their morals! We wonder why our society is so ruthless, why the robberies are so violent and during daylight and why there are so many sickening deaths happening daily! These sites that "pop" up may not make you or I go out and perform any of it (well I hope none of my readers do!) but all it takes is one sick or unstable person to see it, get an idea and then execute it! I definitely don't live with rose coloured glasses on- gee i would love to be so much better- I realise the world has these evil things in it, but to have it in your face and even when you don't deliberately search for it has really scared me.

In this household safety matters

This incident then got me thinking about the kids, it cemented in the need for parental controls on computers. Now don't jump to think I am going to wrap them in cotton wool, but there are some things that kids don't need to be exposed to, things that don't better their life in any way. We always said that the kids would have a communal computer, in a part of the house that was visible to us (like the study) and we would make use of parental controls. Not to restrict the children's freedom but to restrict content like my husband found or pornography sites appearing. We want our son (and daughter) to learn about sex the right way, the dignified way not think that pornography is sex. I had this discussion with my mother the other day, she said that she would not like to raise children in this society, I tend to agree but have no choice! Not all of this society is bad, but this whole freedom to do whatever you like, say whatever you like and advertise whatever you like is scary and damaging to today's children- heck sometimes it damages me! I don't dislike all of today's society love way more than I don't like but simple things like classifications have gone out the window- adult TV shows on at 730pm when most children are still awake, the use of swear words on morning radio stations and to some words like s#*t and b*#ch may not be swear words but to us they are and I wouldn't want to hear those words come from my children yet how can we blame so many kids these days that are subject to these radio stations or TV shows that use them as everyday words. It just all makes me so angry sometimes.

Recycle- we recycle our morals and values with our children who then recycle for their children

I'm sure you have heard or seen the Emily Seebohm incident- crying that she got silver and disappointed everyone- I was appalled that she was made feel this way, you can be naturally hard on yourself as most top athletes are but this display came from a lot of media pressure and expectations. Silver, really, I would have been flat out getting to the blocks I am that slow! Miss P saw her crying on TV and asked why so I explained, her response "but she has a nice shiny necklace (the medal)" this made me realise I must keep instilling this to them both that no matter what if you tried your hardest you should be proud. I said to Mr D last night that we cannot change the whole society but we can install morals and values into our children and they may just pass this to other children along the way. Our children are aware of the real world (where age appropriate), they won't be hidden under a rock until they are 18, but they will not be exposed to material that does nothing but damage them. My promise to my family is to protect them from what society isn't protecting!